[The relationship between viral hepatitis and primary liver cancer in four areas of China].

To investigate the relationship between hepatitis B, C and G and primary liver cancer (PLC), both population-based and hospital-based case-control studies were conducted in four areas of China. The prevlence rates of HBsAg in 359 pairs of PLC cases and controls were 66.3% and 23.4% (OR = 6.60, PAR = 55.5%), respectively; the prevalence of anti-HCV in 340 pairs of PLC cases and controls were 17.9% and 6.5% (OR = 3.31, PAR = 12.4%), respectively. When both markers were positive, the OR was higher than their multiple effect of HBsAg and anti-HCV. In the Haimen Case-control study, serum HGV-RNA was detected in 11 of the 50 PLC cases, compared to 5 of the 50 controls matched with age and sex (P > 0.05). These data suggested that HBV might have played a more important role than HCV and HGV in the development of PLC in China.